Nigeria has long been a hotbed for scams - either that, or we've all made a terrible mistake by not wiring over thousands of dollars to unknown recipients for a multi-million dollar payout down the line. Believe it or not, people still fall for it, so we're pleased as punch that Nigeria's anti-corruption police force has stepped up to the plate with some major busts.

"Over 800 fraudulent email addresses have been identified and shut down,"Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) boss Farida Waziri said in a statement. "There have been 18 arrests of high profile syndicates operating cyber-crime organizations."

This doesn't mean you'll never see another Nigerian scam mail in your spam box, but hey, at least it's a start. And going forward, the EFCC feels pretty confident it can make a dent. Rather than rely on raiding cyber cafes and waiting for complaints to trickle in from the public, the EFCC said it is using smart technology in conjunction with Microsoft to actively track down fraudulent emails.

The EFCC hopes this is the just beginning. Working at full capacity, the crime unit believes it can forewarn about a quarter of a million potential victims within the next six months.

Image Credit: Flickr firoze shakir photographerno1